Laminate - Do You always need underlay installed?

sedohre

There is a room with concrete, which is covered with vinyl tiles stuck down.
The guy installed the laminate wood directly over these, without using any underlay.

Do you think it will be ok?

Any experienced people out there?

it's not nailed down yet. Guy should be back tomorrow to finish!

cerastes

experienced? well I did the downstairs of my place,
Id say yes, you need underlay,
reasons I have been given, limits noise/sound of boards hitting surface underneath it as its walked on in the event floor is not perfectly flat, which it wont be flat.
limits transfer of cold from floor (on a ground floor and on concrete), upstairs, Id say put down a noise reducing underlay, rather than one that resists heat loss.
Id say even a basic cheap underlay would be of some benefit, assuming there are no other problems present.


not sure what you mean nailed down either, Im guessing you mean they haven't tacked the edge trim? usually laminate is floating and left with an expansion gap, I pulled off all the skirting and hid the gap there as I think the trim is not nice looking, but the flooring wont be fixed with anything, even though it wont move.

jack of all

The underlay performs another important function- it acts as a slip layer, allowing the "floating" laminate floor to expand or contract easily without "catching" on the substrate. The underlay takes out any minor surface deviations in the sub floor. I'd prefer if an underlay was used, but your installer may have had other reasons for not doing so.

Jonny Harris

The only reason I can think of is trying to save money . I have never heard of not having some type of underlay. Dont pay until you have underlay!
Regards

sedohre

Thanks guys, it's all sorted. He's put underlay in it.